


Short trips

by squirrellysemantics



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, Vignette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 01:01:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirrellysemantics/pseuds/squirrellysemantics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A repository of vignettes instigated by tumblr, focusing on default male Shepard alone or together with Kaidan Alenko.</p>
<p>1. Move the Soul- Shepard has a motorcycle<br/>2. Say Cheese- Kaidan and Shepard and gorgonzola<br/>3. Distortion - we see the things we want to see<br/>4. A side of Legion we rarely see<br/>5. Shepard finds a way to liven up boring official functions</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Move the Soul

Inspired by an [awesome pic by crowthis - find it here on tumblr](http://crowthis.tumblr.com/post/33324487212/i-just).

 

\------------------

Shepard’s out riding again and the air is so  _god damned_   _fucking_   _cold_  that the wind steals the breath right out of his mouth. Jeans do a shit job keeping him warm but no way he’s turning back because he’s got like, what, twenty minutes until sunset and it’s fifteen to that one park with the view and there’s no way he’s missing  _that_. 

No way he’s missing  _this_ , either.  

People ask him if he goes out like this for the  _risk_  or  _thrills_  like what they really mean is that he’s  _crazy_  or  _irresponsible_.

But that’s because they just don’t get it. They’ve never been where he is right now when there’s nothing but road and sky and freedom he gets no place else.   

He forgot his gloves and his fingers feel like they’re on fire but he opens up the throttle anyway ‘cause it feels like he’s flying even though he never leaves the ground. 

The smell of freshly cut grass fills his nose and the sun calls to him just around the bend.

There’s no danger here. Only beauty. 

Next time, he’ll remember the gloves.

 


	2. Say Cheese

Prompt from joasakura- Kaidan/Shepard gorgonzola. 

 

_______________  
Their waiter was a speedy little thing who came and went with no one the wiser. Or perhaps it was the quite a few beers before they were seated that kept Shepard that way. Free booze and marines were never a good mix, and the Alliance Marine Corps Ball had an abundance of both. 

He eyed the dish laid before him with suspicion.

“What the hell is this?”

Kaidan made for a fine figure in his dress blues but he too had enough alcohol on board to have some trouble of his own deciphering the menu card and its fastidious print. “It says it’s a spinach gorgonzola gratin.”

Shepard was not impressed. “It smells like old shoes.”

Same old, same old at these events. Face time and bullshit made no less annoying when some two star’s husband let out a tipsy titter the next table over. 

A nudge beneath the table had Shepard’s attention.

“I saw this pizza place on our way in” Kaidan murmured, his lips barely moving. “Why don’t we head out?”

“Hell yes,” was Shepard’s answer and there were two more empty chairs than there were before.


	3. Distortion

The headaches come more often than usual but Kaidan works through them.  It mystifies Chakwas, which can’t be a good sign, but there’s little else to be done when there’s no apparent cause and they’re so near the end of this war. 

“How are you feeling?” Shepard asks all too often.

“Don’t worry about me,” Kaidan answers with a thin smile, his head throbbing worse than usual, but Shepard doesn’t need to know that, not when there’s so much on Shepard’s plate. “I’m great.”

The last few missions have been brutal, but Shepard insists that every artifact they seek brings them one step closer to victory.

It’s been so hectic that they’ve had little time for anything but sleep but even there, Kaidan can’t find the rest he so desperately searches for.

He’s weary and well past meal time but doesn’t think twice when Shepard asks him to meet in one of the spare cargo bays. The artifacts they’ve so painstakingly collected are here and Kaidan can’t figure out why but he barely steps through the door before his head is pounding.

“Shepard,” Kaidan calls and his head goes from bad to worse.

“Kaidan.”  Shepard moves around him in a slow circle.

“You wanted to see me?” Kaidan asks and ghosts dance before his eyes. “Can…can we make this quick? I’m not feeling so well-“

“No worries.” Shepard comes to a halt before the largest of the Reaper artifacts, the shields around it setting off a pale shimmer. “This won’t take long at all.”

In one quick motion, he hits a button and the shields are gone.

“Shepard! What the hell are you-”  

Kaidan tries but he can’t speak- not anymore. The pressure inside his head rises and rises and so too does the urge to vomit. He’s gone blind with the pain but he can still feel the shove that pushes him against something cold and unyielding and all he can think is that ‘it must be the artifact’ as everywhere he touches it, a tingle seeps into his skin. 

The only sound he can process is Shepard whispering in his ear:

“Everything’s going to be just fine.”

Kaidan fights, he truly does, but he’s run down and his heart says it’s Shepard even while his brain screams that it’s not- not anymore- and the ice clawing at his soul makes something break-

His vision clears and the pressure eases. 

“How are you feeling?” Shepard asks, blue eyes burning.

It’s an odd sensation, Kaidan will admit, like he’s outside of himself, watching from afar. Somewhere, there’s a small voice shouting itself hoarse, but something dark, something closer whispers calming words over it, making it easy to ignore.

“Don’t worry about me,” he says and for the first time in weeks, there’s no pain. “I’m great.”

Shepard smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the prompt from silvermittt was for an indoctrinated Shepard.


	4. Chapter 4

Missing scene from ME2

Characters: Aria, Shepard, Legion

________________

“Shepard-“ Aria began pleasantly enough, though the finger tapping her holster told the truth of the matter.  “Are you out of your.  _Tiny. Little. Mind_?”

The drink in Shepard’s hand turned too many colors for him to count. “Is there a problem?”

“There’s  _always_  going to be a problem when you bring something like  _that_  into _my_  club!”

He had little need to follow the direction of her venom, the reflection of strobe lights in his eyes reminding him full well which ‘that’ it involved.

Instead, Shepard took a pull from his drink, tongue on the receiving end of a blast of something sweet and prone to violence. “Just think of it as forging a new era of interspecies cooperation.”

Aria showed him quite a bit of teeth that made for the exact opposite of a smile. “The only thing I want to forge out of a god damned  _geth_  is a god damned  _gun_! Now get that hunk of tin off my fucking  _station_!”

This time, Shepard made to watch the object of Aria’s wrath.

Limbs to a metal body shifting with the driving base, seeking out and finding a perfect rhythm. An expression of joy, of fluidity from something so very, very mechanical.

“C’mon, Aria,” Shepard said, swiftly draining his glass. “Let Legion have some fun.”

The crowd that shied away at first filled the floor again once they recognized one of their own. Where they could find no flesh in common, they found in movement a kindred spirit.

Shepard could no longer hide his smile. “But you’ve got to admit. Those are some pretty sweet moves.”

He handed off his glass, though that left Aria less than pleased. Luckily for all involved, Shepard didn’t give two shits what Aria thought. 

Not with the dance floor calling to him. 

———————————————

Based on the fact that [Legion does indeed have some pretty sweet moves.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZkjJbYtTno)


	5. Chapter 5

Humans . Odd little creatures.

Feltras kept that thought to himself, though if asked, he could claim little experience with them in the first place.  There’d been little chance of him leaving Sur’Kesh in his dotage and it took defeating the Reapers to do it.

This official little Council reception did nothing to dispel his original notion, but he’d never met a SPECTRE- much less two of them-so perhaps that had something to do with it.

Both were male, but Feltras knew as much from news vids. The salarian had never been good at determining gender in other species and he’d gotten no better in his old age.  Particularly humans- too squishy, not enough to distinguish their patterning besides some minor color variance.  That these two both wore their Alliance dress blues helped him not at all. The shorn one kept to himself mostly, his air of disinterest in his surroundings obvious enough. 

“Isn’t it Betau back on your home world, Councilor Inoste?” asked the one with the larger pelt, taking a small, careful sip of wine.

Feltras played the odds and hoped to not create an intergalactic incident at guessing the wrong name. “Yes, SPECTRE… Alenko, is it? It’s one of our few holidays now made more memorable by your actions.”

The human made a bashful show of teeth. That was the first thing to pique the shorn one’s interest, but he did nothing more than let his hands drift beneath the table.

“We celebrate our new year on Earth, as we- _hell_!” Alenko continued, ending on a startled yip as something made him jump in his chair.  He shot a sidelong glance at his companion but this went ignored.

“Betau is a time of forgiveness for my people,” Feltras began, digging himself out from his token obligatory attempt to continue small talk at these ridiculous functions. “Starting anew. Is it much the same for yours?”

“Humans use it to… to, ah, fa… fff… fuh-“ 

The human drifted out of focus while the shorn one seemed quite oblivious to it all, too intent on fidgeting beneath the table.

Alenko tried to regroup but his mind was still clearly elsewhere. “I’m sorry, what was the question?”

Feltras blinked as the shorn one drew his chair closer to his companion, only to have the human turn a brilliant scarlet. This was the best humanity had to offer?

“Are you well, SPECTRE Alenko?”

The shorn one broke his silence though his limbs still remained restless beneath the table.

“He’s fine,“ this one dismissed, ignoring the fact that his cohort appeared to now have some difficulty breathing. “Inoste, was it? I’ve met one of your clan. Back on Zhu’s Hope.”

Ah. The shorn one was Shepard. Finally.  Something Feltras could relate to.  “Yes! Ledra.  A distant cousin of mine and a good man. He’s still there, his business booming. Speaks very highly of you, in fact.”

Feltras knew nothing of human physiology but the one seemed to have acquired a tremor.

This Shepard appeared unconcerned, whatever he was doing beneath the table only intensifying. “Glad to hear things are going well there for him. It was a tough mission.”

The ill human had a slight sheen of sweat to him as he took to Shepard’s ear, speaking in a rapid whisper. Whatever the man was saying was too faint for the salarian to hear, but it made Shepard freeze in bemusement before lighting up in a wicked grin.

There was a loud screech of chairs scraping the floor and Alenko was on his feet. “I’m sorry, Councilor. I suppose I’m not feeling well after all.”

He grabbed his compatriot and propelled the other human forward with more force than was absolutely necessary. “Please accept our apologies, but I’ll need Commander Shepard’s assistance to get some relief.”

The two fled in a hurry, leaving Feltras at the table quite on his own.

Humans. Odd little creatures. 


End file.
